Someone had a really perverse sense of humor (or really hated hippies) to come up with these kitschy coffee/dessert plates during the Vietnam years.
Clearly that corn cob is trippin’ on Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild,” and the beetnik is in the groove with Sonny & Cher’s “The Beat Goes On.” But adding the Army recruiter slogan to the coffee cup is just buzzkill.
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Allee Willis
I would kill to own a set of these! I love anything kitschy that ties into Pop music but once it gets to tying into songs that were this huge it leaps into a much higher tier of Kitsch entirely. In addition to the food/music connection the shape of these plates is so quintessentially Atomic and perfect.
It’s unusual that the plates are different yet the cups remain the same. Even more unusual that the Army recruiting slogan ties into the Pop songs as those were the people that were the least likely to walk into a recruiting office.
As for the “Be All That You Can Be” slogan, that was written by Earl Carter, who I worked with at Columbia and Epic Records right after I graduated college and who took me under his wing and mentored me in becoming an advertising copywriter. I went on to Earth Wind & Fire and he went on to writing a hit for the Army but without all my advertising schooling I doubt my lyrics would be as tight as they are.
dennyc
Well, they are for sale here in fabulous Pittsburgh. Let me see if I can get them for you!
Allee Willis
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…… WOWEEEEEEEEE!
dennyc
The second cup says “Lettuce Dance.”